How to Watch the 2018 Winter Olympics Without a Cable Subscription

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On Friday, February 9, 2018, the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics will begin in Pyeongchang, South Korea. With just a few, short days to go until the start of these iconic games, it’s important to be prepared for all your event viewings over the course of the two-week spectacle.

While gearing up to watch the Olympic games, you’ll definitely want to secure your way of watching every event you have your eye on.

Channels Hosting Winter Olympic Events

Thanks to NBCUniversal’s long-term broadcast deal with the IOC, the 2018 games will be broadcast across the corporation’s multiple networks. The list of networks is as follows:NBC
NBCSN
CNBC
MSNBC
USA Network
Telemundo
NBC Universo
Olympic Channel

You’ll also find event coverage on the NBC Sports app as well as NBCOlympics.com. For the first time, all primetime coverage will air live in all time zones. In the past, many events were tape-delayed for the west coast.

Where to Stream the 2018 Winter Olympics

Without traditional TV service, it can be confusing when it comes to your ability to watch these games across the aforementioned networks. So, here are some of the easiest ways to stream.

Sling TV’s Free Trial

As one of the premier replacements for traditional cable TV, Sling offers a wide variety of channels including all the major NBCUniversal networks. This means that, if you have the service, you can watch directly through your Sling app or link your account with the NBCOlympics app to stream from a large number of devices.

Sling offers streaming packages starting at $25/month, which includes access to NBC, the Olympic Channel, and NBCSN. If you don’t already have it, the service new customers a 7-day free trial, which is easy to cancel if you aren’t interested in keeping the service after that initial week.

Try YouTube TV

If you’re not a fan of Sling TV – or have taken advantage of its free trial for some past sporting event – you can try YouTube’s new streaming television service. Available in most cities throughout the country, YouTube TV is similar to Sling–with some slight differences.

The YouTube TV packages start at $35/month for base services without premium add-ons like Showtime or HBO. Just like Sling, you’ll get a free, 7-day trial that you can cancel before your credit card is charged. YouTube TV offers access to all the NBC networks including NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and USA Network. With YouTube TV, you’ll get access to all your Olympic needs and – much like Sling – you can link your account to the Olympics app for viewing across many devices.

NOTE: For long-term reference, YouTube TV offers access to all the broadcast networks, even CBS. This is a big deal if you’re interested in keeping the service after your free trial, as none of the other major streaming services offer access to that particular broadcast network.

NBC Sports App

The NBC Sports app is a fantastic way to watch everything the Olympics have to offer via one, convenient streaming app available on everything from Roku to Apple TV to Xbox and PlayStation game consoles.

To take advantage of this app, you’ll need to sign in to the app and link an existing cable/streaming TV account, which is easily doable with something like Sling or YouTube TV. To clarify, while this is a great way to watch, it does still require TV service access. If you have a good friend or family member who’s willing to share account information with you, you can utilize that account and take advantage of the app without signing up for any service trials. This’ll be helpful considering that most streaming service trials are seven days long and the Olympics last for twice that.

Whatever you do, you won’t want to miss the 2018 Winter Olympics. Even if you have to pony up the money for a single month of a streaming service like Sling or YouTube TV, we’re willing to bet that you won’t be disappointed.